JP5492860B2 - Toner transport device and image forming apparatus having the same - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a toner conveying device and an image forming apparatus including the toner conveying device.

  2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, image forming apparatuses have been provided with a toner conveying device. For example, toner scraped off from a photoreceptor (image carrier) by a cleaning blade is conveyed by the toner conveying device and collected as waste toner. Yes. The toner conveying device includes a screw having fins spirally wound around a shaft portion, and the toner is conveyed in the axial direction of the screw by rotating the screw.

  By the way, when the image forming apparatus is used for a long time, toner accumulates around the screw, and the conveying path is narrowed by the accumulated toner. As described above, when the toner conveyance path is narrowed, the toner cannot be smoothly conveyed. As a result, the toner accumulation amount may exceed the screw conveyance amount, and the toner may leak to the surroundings.

In order to prevent the conveyance path from being narrowed by such toner, Patent Document 1 discloses a method of breaking the deposited toner by applying vibration to the screw.
Patent Documents 2 and 3 propose a method in which an elastic sheet is disposed at a position where it abuts against the fin of the screw, the elastic sheet is swung by the movement of the fin, and thereby the accumulated toner is destroyed. .

JP-A-11-327397 JP 2011-95357 A JP 2008-158168 A

However, the method disclosed in Patent Document 1 requires a striking mechanism for applying vibration to the screw, which complicates the structure and increases the device cost.
On the other hand, in the methods disclosed in Patent Document 2 and Patent Document 3, the elastic sheet itself only repeatedly swings in the radial direction of the screw, and inhibits the progress of the toner that tries to move in the axial direction of the screw. For this reason, there is a problem that toner transportability is lowered.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems. In the toner conveying device and the image forming apparatus including the toner conveying device, a complicated mechanism such as a striking mechanism is not required and the toner conveying property is not deteriorated. It is possible to break down the accumulated toner.

  The present invention adopts the following configuration as means for solving the above-described problems.

  A first invention includes a screw having a helical fin wound around a shaft portion and conveying toner in the axial direction, and a toner breaking member arranged along the toner conveying direction and breaking the accumulated toner. A toner conveying device, wherein the toner breaking member is disposed at a position in contact with a base portion extending along the shaft portion of the screw and the fin, and is downstream in the toner conveying direction of the screw. A configuration is adopted in which a flexible plate member having a side fixed to the base and an upstream side separated from the base is employed.

  The second invention employs a configuration in which a plurality of the flexible plate members are provided along the shaft portion of the screw in the first invention.

  The third invention adopts a configuration in which the arrangement pitch of the flexible plate member is different from the helical pitch of the fin in the second invention.

  According to a fourth invention, in any one of the first to third inventions, the flexible plate member has a shape extending in a height direction from the upstream side toward the downstream side. adopt.

  According to a fifth invention, in any one of the first to fourth inventions, the configuration is a waste toner conveying device that conveys the residual toner on the image carrier.

  A sixth invention is an image forming apparatus, and employs a configuration including the toner conveying device according to any one of the first to fifth inventions.

In the present invention, the toner breaking member includes a base portion and a flexible plate member. Further, in the toner conveying direction in the screw, the downstream side of the flexible plate member is fixed to the base, and the upstream side of the flexible plate member is separated from the base.
Also, since the fins of the screw are spiral, the fins apparently move in the toner transport direction as the screw rotates.

When such a spiral fin comes into contact with the above-described flexible plate member from the upstream side, the upstream side of the flexible plate member is separated from the base, so the upstream side of the flexible plate member is It moves greatly in the radial direction of the screw shaft. As a result, the flexible plate member is largely inclined in the direction in which the upstream side is separated from the screw, and is twisted with the downstream side fixed to the base as a fulcrum. As the fin further moves continuously in the toner conveying direction, the downstream side of the flexible plate member is also largely inclined in the direction away from the screw. As a result, the twist of the flexible plate member is gradually eliminated.
While the screw is rotating, the fin that apparently advances from the upstream side to the downstream side repeatedly contacts the flexible plate member. For this reason, the flexible plate member repeats the deformation operation so as to fan from the upstream side toward the downstream side.

As described above, the flexible plate member repeats the deformation operation so as to fan from the upstream side toward the downstream side, whereby the toner is conveyed from the upstream side to the downstream side also by the movement of the flexible plate member. In other words, in the present invention, the toner is conveyed toward the downstream side by both the screw and the toner breaking member.
For this reason, it is possible to compensate for the decrease in toner transportability due to the arrangement of the toner breaker member by the movement of the flexible plate member, and as a result, the toner transportability is maintained well. Further, the toner deposited around the screw is broken by the repeated movement of the flexible plate member.

  Therefore, according to the present invention, in the image forming apparatus, the accumulated toner can be broken without requiring a complicated mechanism such as a striking mechanism and without lowering the toner transportability.

1 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a schematic configuration of a multifunction machine according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a photoconductor unit including a cleaning device provided in a multifunction machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is a longitudinal sectional view and (b) is a perspective view. It is the longitudinal cross-sectional view which expanded the cleaning apparatus with which the multifunctional device in one Embodiment of this invention is provided. 4A and 4B are diagrams illustrating a toner breaker member included in a multifunction machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, where FIG. 5A is a perspective view, FIG. 5B is a front view, and FIG. FIG. 2 is a perspective view illustrating a part of a screw and a toner breaker member included in a multifunction machine according to an embodiment of the present invention, in which (a) is in contact with an upstream end of a flexible plate member. (B) shows a state where the fin is in contact between the upstream end and the downstream end of the flexible plate member, and (c) shows that the fin is flexible. The state which contact | abutted to the edge part of the downstream of a board member is shown. FIG. 6 is a plan view showing a part of FIG. 5, (a) corresponding to FIG. 5 (a), (b) corresponding to FIG. 5 (b), and (c) corresponding to FIG. 5 (c). FIG. 3 is a perspective view illustrating a screw and a toner breaker member included in the multifunction machine according to the embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a view showing a modification of the multifunction machine according to the embodiment of the present invention, where (a) is a front view showing a part of a toner breaker member having a rectangular flexible plate member, and (b) is a hypotenuse. FIG. 5 is a front view showing a part of a toner breaker member having a substantially triangular flexible plate member facing the opposite side of the base.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of an image forming apparatus according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. In the following drawings, the scale of each member is appropriately changed in order to make each member a recognizable size.

  FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view schematically showing a schematic configuration of a multifunction peripheral A (image forming apparatus) of the present embodiment. The multifunction peripheral A of the present embodiment is an image forming apparatus that forms an image based on an electrophotographic system. As shown in FIG. 1, an operation display unit 1, an image reading unit 2, an image data storage unit 3, an image forming unit, and the like. Unit 4, communication unit 5, and calculation control unit 6.

  The operation display unit 1 includes operation keys and a touch panel, and functions as a man-machine interface that associates the user with the multifunction peripheral A. The operation display unit 1 outputs a user operation instruction for an operation key or an operation button displayed on the touch panel to the calculation control unit 6 as an operation signal, and various operations are performed on the touch panel based on a control signal input from the calculation control unit 6. Display information of.

  The image reading unit 2 is a surface image of a document automatically fed by an ADF (Automatic document feeder) or a document placed on a platen glass based on a control signal input from the arithmetic control unit 6. The (original image) is read by the line sensor and converted into original image data, and the original image data is output to the image data storage unit 3.

  The image data storage unit 3 is a semiconductor memory, a hard disk device, or the like. Based on a control signal input from the arithmetic control unit 6, original image data, print image data and communication received by the communication unit 5 from an external client computer The unit 5 stores facsimile image data received from an external facsimile machine and reads out the image data and outputs it to the image forming unit 4.

  The image forming unit 4 forms a toner image based on the image data read from the image data storage unit 3 on the recording paper P taken out from the paper feed cassette 48 based on a control signal input from the arithmetic control unit 6. It is. As shown in FIG. 1, the image forming unit 4 includes a belt roller 41, an intermediate transfer belt 42, and four image forming units 43Y, 43M, and 43C corresponding to toner colors (Y, M, C, and K). , 43K, primary transfer rollers 44Y, 44M, 44C, 44K, waste toner transport unit 45, waste toner bottle 46, full detection sensor 47, paper feed cassette 48, pickup roller 49, transport roller 50, registration roller 51, secondary roller. A transfer roller 52, a fixing roller pair 53, a paper discharge roller 54, and a paper discharge tray 55 are provided.

  As shown in the figure, the belt roller 41 includes three rollers that are spaced apart from each other, that is, a driving roller 41a, a driven roller 41b, and a tension roller 41c. That is, the driving roller 41a and the driven roller 41b are arranged at a certain distance in the horizontal direction, and the tension roller 41c is arranged at a position slightly displaced upward between the driving roller 41a and the driven roller 41b. ing. The intermediate transfer belt 42 is an endless belt stretched around such a belt roller 41 (drive roller 41a, driven roller 41b, tension roller 41c), and travels in a direction indicated by an arrow by the drive roller 41a.

That is, the intermediate transfer belt 42 runs in the horizontal direction between the driving roller 41a and the driven roller 41b. The driving roller 41a described above is a roller in which a motor that generates a driving force is axially coupled, and causes the intermediate transfer belt 42 to travel in the direction of the arrow by the power of the motor. The driven roller 41b is a free roller provided so as to freely rotate, and guides the intermediate transfer belt 42 according to the power of the drive roller 41a.
Further, the tension roller 41c is a roller that is provided such that the rotation shaft is movable and applies a certain tension (tension) to the intermediate transfer belt 42 by pressing the intermediate transfer belt 42 with a predetermined urging force.

As shown in the figure, the image forming units 43Y, 43M, 43C, and 43K are provided at predetermined intervals in the horizontal running portion of the intermediate transfer belt 42 described above. Of these image forming units 43Y, 43M, 43C, and 43K, the image forming unit 43Y is a unit that forms a yellow (Y) toner image, and is provided at a position closest to the driven roller 41b. The image forming unit 43M is a unit for forming a magenta (M) toner image, and is provided at a position near the driven roller 41b next to the image forming unit 43Y. The image forming unit 43C is a unit that forms a cyan (C) toner image, and is provided at a position close to the driven roller 41b next to the image forming unit 43M.
The image forming unit 43K is a unit that forms a black (K) toner image, and is provided at a position closest to the drive roller 41a.

  Such image forming units 43Y, 43M, 43C, and 43K include a photosensitive drum 43a (image carrier), a charging unit 43b, a laser scanning unit 43c, a developing unit 43d, and a cleaning device 43e as shown in the drawing. Yes. Note that the image forming units 43Y, 43M, 43C, and 43K differ only in the color of the toner image, and the constituent elements are the same.

  The photosensitive drum 43a is a cylindrical member having a peripheral surface formed of a predetermined photosensitive material (for example, amorphous silicon). The charging unit 43b uniformly charges the peripheral surface (photosensitive surface) of the photosensitive drum 43a. The laser scanning unit 43c forms an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive surface by irradiating the charged photosensitive surface with laser light. The developing unit 43d develops the electrostatic latent image formed on the photosensitive surface as a toner image by supplying toner to the photosensitive surface.

  The cleaning device 43e scrapes off the toner (residual toner) remaining on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 43a and delivers the toner as waste toner T to the waste toner transport unit 45. The cleaning device 43e includes a toner breaker member 64 that is a feature of the multifunction peripheral A of the present embodiment, and will be described in more detail later with reference to another drawing.

  As shown in the figure, four primary transfer rollers 44Y, 44M, 44C, and 44K are provided corresponding to the image forming units 43Y, 43M, 43C, and 43K, and each of the primary transfer rollers 44Y, 44M, 44C, and 44K has an intermediate transfer belt 42 interposed therebetween. The image forming units 43Y, 43M, 43C, and 43K are disposed to face the photosensitive drum 43a. Further, a primary transfer bias (high voltage) is applied to each primary transfer roller 44Y, 44M, 44C, 44K, and each primary transfer roller 44Y, 44M, 44C, 44K has this primary transfer bias. The toner images of the respective colors respectively formed on the photosensitive drums 43a of the image forming units 43Y, 43M, 43C, and 43K by the action are transferred (primary transfer) to the intermediate transfer belt 42.

  The waste toner conveyance unit 45 includes a conveyance screw and a conveyance path that accommodates the conveyance screw, and is scraped off from the photosensitive drum 43a by the cleaning device 43e of each of the image forming units 43Y, 43M, 43C, and 43K. Residual toner is collected and conveyed to a waste toner bottle 46 as waste toner T. The waste toner bottle 46 is a container for storing and storing the waste toner T supplied from the waste toner transport unit 45, and is detachably attached to the main body of the multifunction machine.

  As shown in the figure, the waste toner bottle 46 is attached to the main body of the multi-function peripheral so that a storage port 46b (opening) provided in the upper portion of the neck portion 46a faces upward. The waste toner T falling from the storage port 46b is stored from the storage port 46b. When the waste toner bottle 46 accommodates the waste toner T until it is full, the user removes the waste toner T, which is the content, and is empty and remounted. Further, the waste toner bottle 46 in which the waste toner T is accommodated until it is full may be removed by the user and a new waste toner bottle 46 may be attached.

  The full detection sensor 47 is an optical sensor that detects the fullness of the waste toner bottle 46 by irradiating the neck 46a of the waste toner bottle 46 with predetermined light (detection light). That is, as shown in FIG. 1, the full detection sensor 47 includes an infrared LED (Light Emitting Diode) 47a (light emitting element) provided at a position corresponding to the neck 46a of the waste toner bottle 46, and the infrared LED 47a. It is composed of a phototransistor 47b (light receiving element) arranged opposite to each other across the neck 46a, and waste toner is detected by detecting the transmission intensity of the detection light irradiated to the neck 46a from the infrared LED 47a with the phototransistor 47b. It is detected whether the waste toner T in the bottle 46 has increased until it reaches the neck 46a, that is, whether the waste toner bottle 46 has become full.

  If the waste toner T increases in the waste toner bottle 46 until it reaches the neck 46a, the detection light is blocked by the waste toner T, so that the transmission intensity of the detection light detected by the phototransistor 47b decreases. The full detection sensor 47 outputs a signal indicating the transmission intensity of such detection light to the arithmetic control unit 6 as a detection signal.

  The paper feed cassette 48 is a container for storing a plurality of recording papers P having a predetermined shape such as A4 size and B5 size. The pickup roller 49 is a roller that is provided in pressure contact with the recording paper P in the upper part of the paper feeding cassette 48, takes out the recording paper P in the paper feeding cassette 48 one by one, and sends it out to the transport roller 50. The transport roller 50 is a roller that transports the recording paper P fed from the pickup roller 49 toward the registration roller 51. The registration roller 51 is a roller that supplies the recording paper P supplied from the transport roller 50 to the secondary transfer roller 52 at a predetermined timing.

  The secondary transfer roller 52 is a roller disposed opposite to the driving roller 41a with the intermediate transfer belt 42 interposed therebetween, and transfers the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 42 to the recording paper P (secondary transfer). A secondary transfer bias (high voltage) is applied to the secondary transfer roller 52, and the secondary transfer roller 52 applies the toner image on the intermediate transfer belt 42 to the recording paper P by the action of the secondary transfer bias. (Secondary transfer).

  The fixing roller pair 53 includes a heating roller 53a provided with a heater therein, and a pressure roller 53b in pressure contact with the heating roller 53a. The fixing roller pair 53 heats and presses the recording paper P by sandwiching the recording paper P onto which the toner image of each color is transferred by the heating roller 53a and the pressure roller 53b, and the toner image of each color is recorded on the recording paper P. Fix on top. The paper discharge roller 54 is a roller that conveys the recording paper P supplied from the fixing roller pair 53 toward the paper discharge tray 55. The paper discharge tray 55 is a storage unit that stores and holds the recording paper P supplied from the paper discharge roller 54.

  The communication unit 5 communicates with an external multifunction peripheral or facsimile apparatus via a telephone line on the basis of a control signal input from the arithmetic control unit 6, and with a client computer or the like via a LAN (Local Area Network). It communicates. That is, the communication unit 5 has a communication function compliant with a facsimile standard such as G3 and a communication function compliant with a LAN standard such as Ethernet (registered trademark).

  The arithmetic control unit 6 includes a CPU (Central Processing Unit), a ROM (Read Only Memory), a RAM (Random Access Memory), and an interface circuit that transmits / receives various signals to / from each electrically connected unit. . The arithmetic control unit 6 performs various arithmetic processes based on the control program stored in the ROM and controls the overall operation of the multifunction peripheral A by communicating with each unit.

  In the MFP A of this embodiment configured as described above, for example, when a user sets a document on the ADF and instructs the copying of the document by operating the operation display unit 1, an instruction signal related to the instruction Is input from the operation display unit 1 to the calculation control unit 6. As a result, the arithmetic control unit 6 causes the image reading unit 2 to sequentially read the document image for each page of the document and stores the document image data of the document image in the image data storage unit 3. Then, the arithmetic control unit 6 generates bitmap image data corresponding to each toner color based on the document image data, and performs image forming processing of the document image on the image forming unit 4 based on the bitmap image data. Let it run.

  That is, the arithmetic control unit 6 drives the pickup roller 49 to take out the recording paper P in the paper feed cassette 48 one by one and feeds it to the transport roller 50 and also drives the transport roller 50 to register the recording paper P. It is conveyed toward the roller 51. The arithmetic control unit 6 drives the driving roller 41a to bring the intermediate transfer belt 42 into a running state and drives the image forming units 43Y, 43M, 43C, and 43K, based on the above-described bitmap image data. Thus, a toner image of each color is formed on the photosensitive surface (circumferential surface) of each photosensitive drum 43a. Then, the arithmetic control unit 6 applies the primary transfer bias to each primary transfer roller 44Y, 44M, 44C, 44K, thereby causing the toner image on each photoconductive drum 43a to be primarily transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt. .

  Then, the arithmetic control unit 6 drives the registration roller 51 in accordance with the processing timing of image formation of each color in the image forming units 43Y, 43M, 43C, and 43K and applies a secondary transfer bias to the secondary transfer roller 52. As a result, the toner image (original image) on the intermediate transfer belt 42 is secondarily transferred to a desired position on the recording paper P. The arithmetic control unit 6 drives the fixing roller pair 53 and the paper discharge roller 54 to fix the toner image on the recording paper P and discharge it to the paper discharge tray 55.

Next, the cleaning device 43e for the photosensitive unit including the characteristic part of the multifunction peripheral A of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
FIG. 2 is an enlarged view including the cleaning device 43e. In FIG. 2, (a) is a longitudinal sectional view, and (b) is a perspective view. FIG. 3 is an enlarged vertical sectional view of the cleaning device 43e. In FIG. 2B, a cleaning blade 62 described later is omitted.
As shown in these drawings, the cleaning device 43e is disposed on the side of the photosensitive drum 43a, and includes a frame 61, a cleaning blade 62, a screw 63, and a toner breaker member 64. Of the components of the cleaning device 43e, the screw 63 and the toner breaking member 64 constitute a waste toner conveying device (toner conveying device) of the present invention. That is, in this embodiment, the function of the waste toner conveying device of the present invention is incorporated in the cleaning device 43e.

  The frame 61 is a substantially cylindrical container that serves as a transport path for the waste toner T and accommodates the screw 63 and the toner breaker member 64 therein. Further, an opening for taking in the waste toner T scraped off from the photosensitive drum 43a is provided in a side portion of the frame 61 on the photosensitive drum 43a side. Such a frame 61 is fixed to a rigid member serving as a skeleton of the multifunction machine A.

  The cleaning blade 62 is disposed in the opening portion of the frame 61 so as to slide on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 43a, and scrapes off residual toner remaining on the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 43a.

  The screw 63 conveys the residual toner scraped off by the cleaning blade 62 as the waste toner T to the waste toner transport unit 45. The screw 63 has a shaft portion 63a that is rotatably supported by the frame 61, and a spiral fin 63b wound around the shaft portion. In the present embodiment, the fin 63b is wound in a clockwise direction as viewed from the direction shown in FIG. 3, and the screw 63 is rotated rightward as viewed from the direction shown in FIG. 3 by a drive mechanism (not shown). The Therefore, the fin 63b apparently moves in the waste toner conveyance direction shown in FIG. 2B, and the waste toner T is also conveyed in the axial direction of the screw 63 as the fin 63b moves.

  4A and 4B are views showing the toner breaking member 64, where FIG. 4A is a perspective view, FIG. 4B is a front view, and FIG. 4C is an enlarged view of a part thereof. As shown in these drawings, the toner breaker member 64 includes a long base portion 64a extending in the axial direction of the screw 63 and a plurality of flexible plates arranged at equal intervals in the longitudinal direction of the base portion 64a. It is comprised from the member 64b. The toner breaking member 64 is disposed between the cleaning blade 62 and the screw 63, and the flexible plate member 64b is deformed as the fin 63b of the screw 63 moves, so that the waste toner T that accumulates is removed. It is something that breaks down.

  The base portion 64 a is bent in an L shape when viewed from the longitudinal direction and is fixed to the frame 61. The base portion 64a is made of, for example, polyethylene terephthalate (PET), and is attached to the frame 61 with an adhesive.

As shown in FIGS. 4A to 4C, the flexible plate member 64b is a substantially triangular plate that is pointed toward the upstream side in the waste toner conveyance direction (the conveyance direction of the waste toner T by the screw 63). It is a member, and has a hypotenuse 64c facing the base 64a side and an upper side 64d parallel to the base 64a. The oblique side 64c is in a posture orthogonal to the extending direction X of the fin 63b so that the flexible plate member 64b is not caught in the fin 63b when the fin 63b rotates. As described above, the flexible plate member 64b has a shape that expands in the height direction (direction orthogonal to the extending direction of the base portion 64a) from the upstream side to the downstream side in the waste toner conveyance direction.
The flexible plate member 64b is made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET), like the base portion 64a, and has flexibility. The material of the flexible plate member 64b may be other resin sheet such as Teflon (registered trademark) or Kapton (registered trademark) as long as it has flexibility. To polyethylene terephthalate (PET).

In such a flexible plate member 64b, the downstream end 64e in the waste toner conveyance direction is fixed to the base 64a, and the upstream end 64f is separated from the base 64a. The end portion 64e is supported with respect to the base portion 64a by being fixed to the base portion 64a.
In addition, the flexible plate member 64b is arranged along the shaft portion 63a of the screw 63, and is disposed so that the upper portion contacts the fin 63b.

  The arrangement pitch P1 of such flexible plate members 64b is set to be about 1 mm smaller than the helical pitch P2 of the fins 63b of the screw 63 (see FIG. 5). That is, the arrangement pitch P1 and the helical pitch P2 of the flexible plate member 64b are different. The spiral pitch P2 referred to here means an interval in which the first and second winding portions (adjacent portions) of the fin 63b are separated in the axial direction of the screw 63.

  Next, the movement of the flexible plate member 64b of the toner breaker member 64 will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a part of the screw 63 and the toner breaker member 64, and shows a time-series change in (a) to (c). (A) has shown the state which the fin 63b is contact | abutting to the edge part 64f of the upstream of the flexible board member 64b. Further, (b) shows a state in which the fin 63b is in contact between the upstream end 64f and the downstream end 64e of the flexible plate member 64b. Further, (c) shows a state in which the fin 63b is in contact with the downstream end 64e of the flexible plate member 64b. FIGS. 6A and 6B are enlarged plan views including one of the flexible plate members 64b shown in FIG. 5, wherein FIG. 6A is FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B is FIG. , (C) corresponds to FIG. 5 (c).

  As shown in FIGS. 5A and 6A, when the spiral fin 63b comes into contact with the flexible plate member 64b from the upstream side, the upstream end portion 64d of the flexible plate member 64b is formed. Since it is separated from the base portion 64 a, the upstream end portion 64 f of the flexible plate member 64 b moves greatly in the radial direction of the shaft portion 63 a of the screw 63. As a result, the flexible plate member 64b is greatly inclined in the direction away from the screw 63 on the upstream side, and twisted with the downstream side fixed to the base portion 64a as a fulcrum.

  Then, as shown in FIGS. 5B and 6B, when the fin 63b further moves in the transport direction of the waste toner T, the fin 63b is located at the downstream end of the flexible plate member 64b. As the distance 64e approaches, the end 64e gradually tilts away from the screw 63. As a result, the twist of the flexible plate member 64b is gradually eliminated, and when the fin 63b reaches the downstream end portion 64e of the flexible plate member 64b, FIG. 5 (c) and FIG. 6 (c). As shown, the twist of the flexible plate member 64b is eliminated.

While the screw 63 is rotating, the plurality of fins 63b apparently proceed from the upstream side to the downstream side in the transport direction of the waste toner T. For this reason, the fin 63b repeatedly comes into contact with the flexible plate member 64b from the upstream side. For this reason, the flexible plate member 64b repeats the deformation operation so as to fan from the upstream side toward the downstream side.
Thus, the waste toner T is transported from the upstream side to the downstream side by the movement of the flexible plate member 64b by repeating the deformation operation in which the flexible plate member 64b is fanned from the upstream side toward the downstream side. Is done.

  In such a cleaning device 43e, the rotating screw 63 transports the residual toner scraped off from the peripheral surface of the photosensitive drum 43a by the cleaning blade 62 to the waste toner transport unit 45. Further, in the cleaning device 43e, the waste toner T accumulated around the screw 63 is broken and the waste toner T is transported toward the waste toner transport unit 45 by the deformation of the flexible plate member 64b.

Thus, in the present embodiment, the waste toner T is conveyed toward the downstream side by both the screw 63 and the toner breaking member 64. For this reason, the decrease in the transportability of the waste toner T due to the arrangement of the toner breaking member 64 can be compensated by the movement of the flexible plate member 64b. As a result, the transportability of the waste toner T is maintained well. The Further, the waste toner T that accumulates around the screw is destroyed by the repeated movement of the flexible plate member 64b.
Therefore, according to the MFP A of the present embodiment, it is possible to break down the accumulated waste toner T without requiring a complicated mechanism such as an impact mechanism and without reducing the transportability of the waste toner T.

  Further, in the multi-function device A of the present embodiment, a plurality of flexible plate members 64 b are provided along the shaft portion 63 a of the screw 63. Therefore, the waste toner T can be broken and conveyed by the flexible plate member 64b over the entire longitudinal direction of the screw 63.

Further, in the multifunction machine A of the present embodiment, the arrangement pitch P1 and the helical pitch P2 of the flexible plate member 64b are different. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 7, the deformation timing of the flexible plate member 64 b is shifted in the longitudinal direction of the screw 63. That is, the plurality of flexible plate members 64b installed are deformed so as to wave as shown in FIG. The load that the screw 63 receives from the flexible plate member 64b varies depending on the posture (tilt) of the flexible plate member 64b. Then, by deforming the plurality of flexible plate members 64b so as to wave, it is possible to avoid that the postures of the flexible plate members 64b are all the same, and the load received from the flexible plate members 64b is screwed. It can be made different for each of the 63 longitudinal portions. As a result, it is possible to prevent a large load from acting on the screw 63 at a time, and to prevent the screw 63 from being bent.
Further, the above-mentioned wave travels in the direction of transporting the waste toner T. For this reason, the waste toner T can be transported by the progress of the wave, and the transportability of the waste toner T can be improved.
In addition, since the above-mentioned wave is generated by making the arrangement pitch P1 of the flexible plate member 64b different from the helical pitch P2, even when the arrangement pitch P1 of the flexible plate member 64b is larger than the helical pitch P2. Can be formed. However, since it is considered that the more the flexible plate members 64b are installed, the transportability of the waste toner T can be improved. Therefore, the arrangement pitch P1 of the flexible plate members 64b is made smaller than the helical pitch P2. It is preferable.

  Further, in the MFP A of the present embodiment, the flexible plate member 64b has a shape that expands in the height direction from the upstream side to the downstream side in the transport direction of the waste toner T. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4C, a large gap can be formed between the hypotenuse 64c and the base 64a, and the waste toner T can be smoothly supplied from the cleaning blade 62 to the screw 63. It becomes.

  As mentioned above, although preferred embodiment of this invention was described referring an accompanying drawing, it cannot be overemphasized that this invention is not limited to the said embodiment. Various shapes, combinations, and the like of the constituent members shown in the above-described embodiments are examples, and various modifications can be made based on design requirements and the like without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

For example, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the flexible plate member 64b has a triangular shape extending in the height direction from the upstream side to the downstream side in the transport direction of the waste toner T has been described.
However, the present invention is not limited to such a triangular shape, and it is also possible to use a rectangular flexible plate member 64b1 as shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 8B, it is also possible to use a flexible plate member 64b2 having a hypotenuse 64c1 facing the side opposite to the base 64a.

In the above embodiment, the configuration in which the image forming apparatus of the present invention is applied to the multi-function peripheral A for color printing has been described.
However, the present invention is not limited to this, and may be a printer, a facsimile machine, or a multifunction device for monochrome printing.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the configuration in which the toner conveying device of the present invention is incorporated into the cleaning device 43e as a waste toner conveying device has been described.
However, the present invention is not limited to the waste toner conveying device, but the toner is conveyed not only by the toner conveying device for conveying the toner by the developing unit 43d but also by a toner container (not shown) for storing the toner to be supplied to the developing unit 43d. It is also possible to incorporate the toner into a toner conveying device for conveying the toner.

  A: MFP (image forming apparatus), T: Waste toner, 63 ... Screw, 63a ... Shaft, 63b ... Fin, 64 ... Toner breaking member, 64a ... Base, 64b, 64b1, 64b2 ...... Flexible plate member, 64c ... slanted side, 64d ... upper side, 64e ... downstream end, 64f ... upstream end

Claims (5)

A toner conveying device comprising: a screw having a spiral fin wound around a shaft portion; and a screw for conveying toner in the axial direction; and a toner breaking member disposed along the toner conveying direction and for breaking the accumulated toner. Because
The toner breaking member is
A base extending along the shaft of the screw;
A flexible plate member disposed at a position in contact with the fin, the downstream side of the screw being fixed to the base in the toner transport direction, and the upstream side being separated from the base.
The flexible plate member has an upper side parallel to the extending direction of the base and an upstream end of the upper side when a direction perpendicular to the extending direction of the base is defined as a height direction. The hypotenuse is provided in the extending direction of the base by having a hypotenuse that is connected and faces the base side and always contacts the tip of the fin while the flexible plate member contacts the fin. In addition, the toner transporting device has a shape that extends in the height direction from the upstream side toward the downstream side in the entire range.   The toner conveying device according to claim 1, wherein a plurality of the flexible plate members are provided along a shaft portion of the screw.   The toner conveying device according to claim 2, wherein an arrangement pitch of the flexible plate members and a helical pitch of the fins are different.   4. The toner transport device according to claim 1, wherein the toner transport device is a waste toner transport device that transports residual toner on the image carrier.   An image forming apparatus comprising the toner conveying device according to claim 1.

Images